Nigeria has the largest number of children in the world who
are not being educated, the government has said.
Acknowledging the scale of the problem the education
ministry's permanent secretary Adamu Hussaini said it was "sad to
note" that Nigeria had 10.5 million children out of school.
This is the first time senior officials have admitted the
size of the problem.
Cultural factors have been blamed but critics point to a
lack of money going to publicly funded schools.
The UN's children's agency, Unicef, has been campaigning on
this issue as well as a number of other groups.
Africa Live: Updates on this and other stories
On a visit to the country last week, education activist
Malala Yousafzai met acting president Yemi Osinbajo and asked him to declare
what she called "an education state of emergency in Nigeria".
Image copyright Reuters
Image caption Campaigner Malala Yousafzai visited Nigeria
last week
Mr Hussaini said those most affected were girls, street
children and the children of nomadic groups and added that economic prosperity
can only be achieved with an "inclusive and functional education
system".
But BBC Hausa editor Jimeh Saleh says the failure in the
education system is due to a lack of government funding, rather than any
cultural factors as suggested by the ministry.
"Government funded schools in Nigeria have practically
collapsed over the years because of poor funding leaving children from poor
homes with nowhere to go but the streets," he says.
Unicef estimates that 60% of Nigerian children not attending
school live in the north of the country.
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